Boyatzis brings emotional intelligence online

This spring, Case Western Reserve University will dip a toe into the rapidly expanding world of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, and Richard Boyatzis, PhD, Distinguished University Professor and H.R. Horvitz Professor in Family Business, is taking the lead.

More about MOOCsMOOCs are a relatively new development in online education. These classes are free to anyone who wishes to sign up, so classes may have thousands of students based anywhere in the world. A number of top universities offer MOOCs that contain the same depth and quality of information found in their on-ground and traditional online classes, and students who complete a course often get a certificate, although not college credit.

Boyatzis spoke to the Plain Dealer about the initiative and about the questions that surround the MOOC phenomenon. Will the cost of providing MOOCs outweigh any benefits for universities?

“It’s almost too soon to know,” Boyatzis told the Plain Dealer. “It’s like Google or Amazon. Nobody knew for years whether they could make money on it.” What is certain is that an enormous appetite exists for free, accessible education: 2.7 million students have participated in Coursera MOOCs since the company launched its first in April 2012.

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